Helmet
Director: Satramm Ramanic
Cast: Aparshakti Khurana, Pranutan Bahl, Abhishek Banerjee, Ashish Verma, Ashish Vidyarthi
Satramm Ramani’s Helmet, the latest offering from ZEE5, is no better than a poorly produced commercial for the distribution of condoms. Ramani’s work is the ultimate in what a movie shouldn’t be, in fact never. After films like Vicky Donor on sperm donation and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan on erectile dysfunction, both starring Ayushmann Khurrana, who spoke with the utmost sensitivity on intimate topics, carefully avoiding vulgarism, Helmet seems really disappointing. A new premise, however, completely wasted by clumsy handling.
With a sloppy script, Helmet sinks into unimaginable depths in just about every area. The performances are mediocre, and Aparshakti Khurana, who plays Helmet’s hero, Lucky, literally sleeps through his role as someone whose intense romantic feelings for the wealthy Rupali (Pranutan Bahl) take a beating from her sarcasm-dripping father. The young man is laughed at for his lack of education and decent living – pushing him into the abyss of pain. He plays in a marriage band, a profession that is low in the social hierarchy.
Moreover, the film is not in sync with modern India. People do not hesitate to buy a pack of condoms from a pharmacist, absolutely not. I’ve even seen young women ask for one without flinching, but Lucky, “ordered” by Rupali to get a condom (or no sex please, she’s firm) enters a medical store and grabs a bottle of shampoo, a pack cookies and what not just to return without what he was supposed to get off for.
Anyway, with Rupali’s marriage to a wealthy Harvard man on the horizon, an uneducated Lucky hatches a plan to make a quick buck by stealing cell phones from a delivery truck. He lets his two friends, Sultan (Abhishek Banerjee) and Minus (Ashish Verma), go along for the heist that turns into a comedy of errors. When the trio open the stolen cardboard boxes, they find hundreds of condom packs. Why don’t they sell them, they wonder, hoping to make the most of a bad bargain.
The writing just goes haywire from this point on, with barbers and a motley crew all scrambling to sell Lucky’s loot from a fictional company he creates and calls it Helmet. He and his friends run around in helmets on two-wheelers, which serve as both publicity for their condoms and a shield to hide their identities. Obviously they don’t want anyone to see them selling condoms, which they say is a disgraceful way to make money. Into these boxes of condoms are silly stories woven like sex without the fear of pregnancy and the pleasure of it all. Women come to cuddle with their husbands at the sight of a pack! Can it be worse?
The climax, when it comes, is so incredible it just knocks you down – and Helmet doesn’t help!
Extremely avoidable.
(Gautaman Bhaskaran is an author and film critic)
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here